Renegades (Film Review)

Renegades is the story of a geriatric group of combat veterans who have formed a support group for bad-asses who don't play by society's rules.

I am no snob. I am an unashamed fan of schlock and low budget movies, but Renegades is maybe a step too far for your boy. Slotting nicely into that Netflix/Amazon Prime-trash category, Renegades is a fever dream of an action movie, featuring a who's who of soap-stars of yesteryear and the original Steve Austin himself, Lee Majors. It's a film that drunkenly stumbles from one pointless scene to another with no real rhyme or reason.

Renegades is the story of a geriatric group of combat veterans who have formed a support group for bad-asses who don't play by society's rules. Lee Majors, who plays their de facto leader, Carver, heads up the group. No longer the 6 Million Dollar man, more the 6 Million Naira man now. He confronts some of the bad guys and meets an unfortunate end in one of the funniest gang beatings ever captured on film. Watching these guys flail punches and kicks at the cameraman might be a highlight of the movie.

Eventually the Renegades decide to take matters into their own hands (and zimmer frames) and get revenge on the dastardly crims of old London town.

Renegades is a sloppy drunk of a movie. There is a scene where a man gets shot in his doorway by an Uzi and the digital blood effect vibrates around the guy's chest as he lies on the floor. This lack of attention to detail or care of craft (or both) carries on throughout the movie.

I am not windmill dunking on this movie because I am a snob. I unashamedly love every Rise of the Footsoldier movie ever made and one day aspire to be the King of Southend, (funnily enough the second film in the Rise of the Footsoldier series shares a producer with Renegades).

Renegades is so awkward, the only way I could tell it wasn't directed by an AI was to check how many fingers all the characters had and I can't verify 100% if they weren't rocking some extra digits.

If you haven't guessed by now, I did not enjoy Renegades. It feels like it was made in a weekend by a group of decent actors who had a little space in their diaries and were doing a solid for a friend. It doesn't respect its time or audience and it shows in the end product.

Renegades is released on January 30th 2023